Are the Gundams and mobile suits in general as much characters

Not really.
Brave robots are though.

>>14724530
>Not really.
Exia.

>>14724602
Is just a machine with no personality quirks because everything about it is either just Setsuna or Ribbons piloting it.

>>14724489
Hell, 00 had a Gundam for a main character.

>>14724489
Nah, youre thinking of Mazinger or Getter
The OG Gundam had the learning computer though, so sometimes it seems to have a bit of a soul
However, that's just a manifestation of the Japanese beliefs that any beloved or important object gets inhabited by a Kami eventually

Yes they are. For mecha culture, robots are very much a character in their respective series. Its how all this merchandise is generated. You cant sell things that are just vehicles for a character, they have to be characters themselves.

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They can be

>>14724761
>You cant sell things that are just vehicles for a character, they have to be characters themselves.
[citation needed]

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>>14724489
They have no agency -- no free will or motivations. They cannot make any decisions that affect the story on their own.

They are not characters, just supporting devices to the story's setting.

>>14724776
Woah
He's already going nuts

>>14724785

That guy should read up on Star Wars, which has had plenty of merchandise of vehicles with no souls. Or a lot of 80s cartoons like Wheeled Warriors or GI Joe, which sold vehicles that again had no soul.

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>>14724910
Well, I would argue stuff like the X-wing and Tie Fighter and hell, even the Star Destroyer have character. They're big cultural icons by now, and most people can look at them and tell what they are at a glance.

That said, fucking Fantasy Flight Games is trying to sell that ugly fucking ship that showed up for 15 seconds in TFA, so you're not wrong

>>14724953

Just because they're well known and have a bunch of screen time doesn't make or give them character. The Falcon is an arguable exception, since Han humanised it in the film, calling it a girl, saying it had quirks and so on. X-Wings, Death Stars, Frigates and so on don't have that though - they're just machines.

Until they have some sort of AI in them that gives them intelligence, they're not characters.

The only Gundam with an AI that I know of is the Stargazer Gundam but its AI was primitive.

>>14725010
ALICE and S Gundam

Please... they show strain and damage and walk around as such when they're damaged. They're both a vehicle and a vehicle/extension for out right emotive expression.

It really depends on the series and the director's discretion.

I'm watching a scene where a Zaku is slowly walking up to Shiro with a heathawk in one arm and he has to emerge from the cover to shoot it.
WZC is starting up at the bottom of the ocean after having it's shit stuffed by Wufei.
Etc.

The mobile suits are romanticized. This is standard writing for the mecha genre.

>>14724824
Moustachio went kill-crazy whenever Turn X was nearby.
It (He?) appeared to genuinely hate X.

>>14725081
It was just some program which didn't actually do anything. Probably some IFF feature that lets it know that the Turn-X was close.

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>>14724776
I agree

>>14725012
And by extension Sandrock.

>>14724910
>>14724953
>>14724972

Guys we're talking about Gundam.

This guy gets it
>>14725060

>>14725081

The only thing it really did was flash a load of X symbols around the cockpit. It never took control from Loran, fired despite his direction or anything I'd characterise as 'kill crazy'.

>>14725649

The thread started with that discussion, and >>14724761 made it a broader point.

Honestly?

Yes. At least when it comes to the lead machines / faces of a given faction. They're the team mascot. People react to it like it's not just a machine, but a machine with a story to tell.

Especially in Gundam wherein the metafranchise mythology has built up 30+ years of THIS MOBILE SUIT REGARDLESS OF WHAT TIMELINE IT COMES FROM IS A LEGEND, OR WILL BECOME A LEGEND, BECAUSE IT'S A REINCARNATION OF THE LEGENDARY GUNDAM ITSELF.

>>14724610
>The joke
.
.
.
>Your head

>>14724776
I still love unicorn mode much more than destroy mode

Transformers and Brave Series.

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>>14724489
Yes much how like the ak47 stands for freedom in some countries, it also stand for terrorism in others.

Gundams and mobile suits, are weapons, and they become symbols in themselves characters which represent and ideal or emotion.

much like the swastika represents 2 different things in budhism and hindoeism peace and such, but in modern times in stands for nazi symbolism.

So yes they do become characters, many jobber mobile suits become underdogs, to many ace suits like the gundams stand for power.

the difference is they become characters in their ability and become more fleshed out as the pilots piloting them.

This rant really does make me sound like a prick!

>>14728498
Symbols are not characters. Stop trying to redefine the meaning.

>>14724489
Not at all

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>>14724489
God, why couldn't Unicorn just not transform?

>>14724489
Everyone would have liked the Unicorn more if NTD kept the Unicorn visor or had a zeta-style face.

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>>14737473
I'll punch you to death, m8

Red version is an acquired taste I admit